Keiko Fujimori, in the shadow of her father

LIMA: Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori may only be 36 but she launched her political career as a 19-year-old "first lady" to her notorious father, now jailed on human rights charges.

The popular right-wing congresswoman of Japanese descent is seeking to become Peru's first female president.

Far from distancing herself from Alberto Fujimori -- president from 1990 to 2000 before fleeing Peru amid a corruption scandal -- Keiko regularly refers to him, even on her campaign posters, and works with many of his allies.

Some fear the elder Fujimori is leading her campaign from the prison cell where he is serving time for corruption and human rights abuses under a 1990s crackdown on Shining Path leftist guerrillas.

Critics also fear a possible presidential pardon for her father, were she to win.

But Keiko has capitalized on the positive image her father still holds for around one fifth of the electorate for having beaten both hyperinflation and violent guerrillas, despite the terrible social cost and a bloody repression.

Running on his hardline legacy, she has promised to tackle violent crime, including the re-introduction of the death penalty, and rampant corruption that has plagued the country for decades.

Like her leftist opponent Ollanta Humala, she has also vowed to help more than a third of Peru's 29 million-strong population still living in poverty despite a decade of economic growth.

While Humala's past open support from Venezuela's firebrand President Hugo Chavez continues to haunt him, Keiko has convinced the business community that she would keep the economy on track with free-market policies, after more moderate conservatives failed to make it to the second round.

Keiko is mother of two small girls who joined her on a campaign where she sought to portray a softer image, accompanied by her American husband and even her own mother -- who famously split from Alberto Fujimori after denouncing him for corruption.

While she rouses crowds in poor neighbourhoods, from Lima to central and northern regions, Keiko still remains a polarizing figure and has struggled to downplay suspicions that she would revive her 72-year-old father's policies, with the same controversial military and business ties.

"I listen to his advice but the final decision is mine," she insists.

Keiko herself has also been unable to escape accusations of corruption, including that cocaine traffickers allegedly funded her campaign.

Critics also charge that her expensive degrees from US universities were financed with public money.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011